UP worst hit as rain claims 42 lives in 4 States
New Delhi/Patna/Lucknow : Over 40 people died in rain-related incidents, majority of them in Uttar Pradesh, while incessant rainfall in Bihar left the streets of state capital Patna and other areas waterlogged and residences of at least two ministers marooned.
As many as 35 people lost their lives in Uttar Pradesh since Friday, the state government said. While 25 of them died on Saturday, 10 lost their lives on Friday.
Also, three deaths each were reported from Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, while one person died in Jammu and Kashmir.
In Bihar, heavy rains in several parts of the state since Friday have thrown normal life out of gear affecting rail traffic, healthcare facilities and schools.
The residences of Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi, Road Construction Minister Nand Kishore Yadav and BJP MP Rajiv Pratap Rudy resembled marooned islands.
The Patna district administration has ordered closure of all schools till Tuesday. Nalanda Medical College Hospital premises, the second largest healthcare facility in Patna, was waterlogged as also that of the Gardanibagh hospital.
Meanwhile, three persons, including a police constable, were swept away in the strong currents of a swollen nullah in Seoni district of Madhya Pradesh, police said.
The incident occurred on Ghansor-Kedarpur Road on Friday night. The three bodies were recovered about a kilometre away from the place of the incident.
"It was raining incessantly and the water level of the nullah had gone up," Seoni's Additional Superintendent of Police Kamlesh Kharpuse said. Madhya Pradesh has been witnessing heavy rainfall over the last couple of weeks.
In Jammu and Kashmir's Samba district, a 22-year-old woman was killed after she was struck by lightning. Heavy rains lashed wide parts of the Jammu province, causing waterlogging and traffic jams at many places in the city disrupting normal life.
In Himachal Pradesh, parts of the state received light rainfall on Saturday which brought the maximum temperature down by two to three notches below the season's average.
Meanwhile, River Krishna is in spate again following heavy rain in the upper catchment areas in Maharashtra and Karnataka.
Consequently, the crest gates of major dams that were already full to the brim in Andhra Pradesh had to be opened for the third time in the last couple of months to let out floodwater into the Bay of Bengal.
The India Meteorological Department on Saturday forecast heavy to very heavy rain in parts of north Gujarat and the state's Saurashtra-Kutch belt over the weekend.